The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill (NYT) that would devote nearly $250 billion to manufacturing and technology development to strengthen competitiveness with China.
 
The bill, which passed 68 to 32, would promote investment in public and private research and development (R&D) pipelines, including on semiconductors. It also calls for sanctions in response to forced labor and human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region. Top Chinese officials said (WaPo) the bill “slanders China’s development path and its domestic and foreign policies.” Leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have not committed to approving the Senate bill, but some representatives introduced their own bill to boost research funding. Meanwhile, the White House announced a new task force to strengthen U.S. supply chains, as well as strategies to bolster six industries behind the United States’ economic and national security.

Wholesale prices in China hit a thirteen-year high (SCMP) in May, the country’s statistical agency announced. China has imposed new limits (NYT) on commodities trading, raised some export taxes, and discouraged steel and coal producers from raising prices in an effort to control inflation.
 
South Korea: National Defense Minister Suh Wook apologized (Yonhap) after a female air force officer who was sexually abused died by suicide, and he pledged to reform how such harassment is handled. President Moon Jae-in has called for a task force on overhauling military culture.

U.S. Central Command said it has completed more than 50 percent (VOA) of its withdrawal from Afghanistan. For operational security, it said it will not issue further updates on what percentage of the exit process is complete.
 
Myanmar: Around one hundred thousand people have been displaced (Reuters) in the eastern state of Kayah by fighting that includes “indiscriminate attacks by security forces,” the United Nations said.

Norwegian authorities identified the body of Artin Iran Nezhad, a fifteen-month-old Kurdish Iranian boy who died in October when a boat he was on capsized while trying to cross the English Channel. Another asylum seeker who said he knew Nezhad’s family told the Guardian that a smuggler forced them to cross when waters in the channel were turbulent.
 
Iran: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a Senate hearing that even if Iran returns to the 2015 nuclear deal, he expects hundreds of U.S. sanctions to remain in place (National).

UN Special Rapporteur Mohamed Babiker said in a report that he received information that Somali soldiers were sent from Eritrean military camps (National) to the front lines of the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. The Eritrean and Somali governments previously denied that Somali fighters participated in the fighting. The report also said Eritrean troops committed deliberate attacks on civilians, including summary executions and sexual violence.
 
CAR: France suspended financial and military support (RFI) to the Central African Republic (CAR), which France said failed to uphold political commitments and participated in a Russia-backed disinformation campaign against France’s presence in Africa. 
 
For the Africa in Transition blog, Neil Edwards discusses Russian activities in the CAR.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed a law that permits prison sentences of up to three years (AP) for participants in unsanctioned protests. Previously, such participation could earn up to two weeks in jail.
 
Europe: U.S. President Joe Biden departs for Europe today on his first overseas trip (NYT) since taking office. He will meet with leaders of countries in the Group of Seven, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the European Union, as well as with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
 
CFR’s Stephen Sestanovich explains what to watch for at the Biden-Putin summit.

Authorities arrested potential presidential candidates (WaPo) Felix Maradiaga and Juan Sebastian Chamorro on accusations of inciting foreign interference and undermining Nicaragua’s sovereignty, respectively. Both men rejected the charges as politically motivated. They are the third and fourth potential challengers to President Daniel Ortega to be detained in a week.
 
Mexico: The United States and Mexico will launch high-level economic and security dialogues (Reuters), both governments announced after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited Mexico. Both countries will work to improve economic conditions in Central America to deter migration to the United States, and the United States will commit $130 million to strengthening labor protections in Mexico.
 
In Foreign Affairs, the Center for Global Development’s Michael A. Clemens discusses how Washington can address the real root causes of the U.S. border crisis.